Carton construction



May 16, 1961 H. w. P. PUTNAM CARTON CONSTRUCTION Filed June 6, 1958United States Patent CARTON CONSTRUCTION Harvey W. P. Putnam, 457Nipissing St., North Bay, Ontario, Canada Filed June 6, 1958, Ser. No.740,222

3 Claims. (Cl. 229-52) This invention relates to a carton constructionhaving a novel means for carrying such carton and is particularlyconcerned with cartons of the type having four side walls of which oneor more are unitary and from the top and bottom edges of which flapsextend for the construction of top and bottom Walls. A large number ofconstructions have in the past been constructed wherein the carryinghandle may be extended through an aperture in or related to the topflaps for carrying the carton. Such carrying means generally utilizesthe fact that the top flaps in an unopened carton are glued or otherwisefixed together. Carrying means of this type therefore cannot be used tocarry the carton after it has been opened. On the other hand carryingmeans utilizing the top part of the case which are constructed to beused with either an opened or an unopened carton have been found to beunduly complex and expensive.

The present invention therefore provides a carton wherein a slot isprovided in a unitary side wall of the carton through which a carryinghandle may be pulled. The carrying handle is connected with shoulderforming means which are adapted to bear indirectly against the side wallmaterial at each end of the slot. Such an arrangement by itself has beenfound to place a considerable strain on the shoulders of the handlemember which must bear the weight of the carton. Therefore to supplystrength and rigidity to these members there is provided a piece ofcardboard folded along a crease line and slotted along the crease lineto receive the handle. The piece of cardboard is sufficiently longerthan the slot in the carton side wall to bear upward on the side walland since the piece of cardboard is folded about the shoulders, theshoulders bear on the cardboard which bears on the side wall and thesheath of cardboard has been found to supply strength and rigidity tothe shoulders. In a preferred construction the strength of thearrangement outlined above is further reinforced by extending the foldedback portions of the reinforcing piece of cardboard so that they goacross the carton to the side wall opposite the slotted side wall andeach wing of this extending portion is extended away from the otheralong the opposite side wall and at the corner of the carton turnedagain to run along the end side wall for a certain distance. Thematerials in the carton thus bear downwardly on the portions of thecardboard running along the opposite side wall and tend to anchor thereinforcing member into position. Therefore when the shoulders of thehandle forming member bear upwardly on the reinforcing member, thereinforcing member is placed in tensile stress and tends to maintain thehandle forming shoulders rigidly.

The drawing illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing is shown a carton having four unitary side walls 12, eachside wall having a fiap 18 extending from the top and bottom edges 14and 16 thereof whereby the flaps 18 will provide top and bottom walls. Aslot 20 in one of the side walls 128 runs in the direction from2,984,402 Patented May 16, 1961 "ice top to bottom of the carton whilethe inside of the carton is provided with partition forming members 22and in the construction shown the partitions form spaces for twentyfourbottles. It should be noted, however, that in the preferred constructionthere is no centre partition running perpendicular to the slotted sidewall 128 and that the partitions 22 running parallel to the slotted sidewalls are designed to provide a gap 24 running centrally across thecarton perpendicular to such side wall.

In such gap is located a first piece of cardboard 26 folded upon itselfabout a crease line 28 of greater length than the length of the sidewall slot 20 and the first piece is located in the carton so that thecrease line 28 is parallel to the slot 20 and is locatable adjacentthereto. 1n the preferred construction this piece of cardboard forms acentral partition for the carton and each folded back portion thereof 30extends across the carton to the side wall opposite the slotted sidewall 128 and is bent to run along the opposite side wall away from theother folded back portion 30 to the respective corners 32 of the cartonremote from slotted wall and is then bent to run along the side wall 12of the carton which forms with such opposite side wall such corner.

Such first piece of cardboard is provided with a slot 34 along thecrease line which is located to align with the slot 20 in the side wall128.

Between the folded back portions 26 of the first piece of cardboard isprovided a second piece of cardboard 36 having a handle forming member38 projecting therefrom in the direction of the aligned slots. Thedimensions of the second piece of cardboard 36 are, however,sufficiently short in the direction perpendicular to the slotted sidewall that the second piece and handle may be contained within the cartonwithout projection through the slots 34 and 20 but sufficiently longthat the handle 38 in such position is very close to such slots. Thehandle forming member 36 widens adjacent the projecting handle toprovide shoulders 40 which bear upwardly on the first piece of cardboard26 on the inside of the crease line 28.

The handle portion 36 is provided with a cut 42 forming a U-shape, openoutwardly in the direction of projection of handle 38 whereby the handlematerial 44 defined by the cut may be bent outwardly to form an aperture46 for insertion of the fingers and Where the material 44 folded out mayform a more comfortable support for the fingers. A cut 48 is provided inslotted side 12S extending thereinto from slot 20. The cut allows theportions of side 12S adjacent thereto to be bent inwardly to allowwithdrawal of the handle. It will be noted that the support may provide(not shown) that the handle is of double material folded over at thetop. It will also be noted that the shoulders of the handle formingmember may be reinforced to provide more rigidity in this member.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A carton having four side walls and flaps extending therefrom andforming top and bottom walls, a first vertical slot in the centre of oneof said side walls; a first piece of cardboard within the carton andhaving a width substantially equal to the height of said side walls,said first piece of cardboard being folded along a first crease line asto define an upright partition of double thickness extending across thecentre of the carton and along secondary crease lines to define a pairof side reinforcing flaps extending from the partition along and flushwith the side wall opposite said slotted side wall and bent at thecorners of the carton to partly run along the other two side walls, asecond slot in said first piece of cardboard along said first creaseline and aligned with said first slot, a second piece of cardboard of awidth substantially equal to the height of said side walls and locatedwithin said partition,

a handle forming member projecting from said second piece of cardboardof a width to pass through said side wall slot and said first cardboardpiece slot, shoulders on said second piece of cardboard adapted to bearon said first cardboard piece on each end of said slot when said handlemember is so projecting.

2. A carton as claimed in claim 1 wherein said side wall defining saidside wall slot is provided with a cut extending for a short distanceinto the side wall material from said slot at an angle to said slotdirection.

3. A carton as claimed in claim 1, wherein said shoulders are reinforcedto at least double thickness.

UNITED STATES PATENTS

